Is fear broadcasting throughout your world these days? Is the news about the Coronavirus shooting shrapnel from your television screen?  Worry thoughts swirling dizzily around in your head? Does panic erupt from the uncertainty? Are your children picking up on underlying fears and anxiety?

I know I’ve certainly felt waves of panic and anxiety flowing through me. I’m grateful to have tools and skills to release fear and embrace more elevated emotions. That’s what I want to share with you here.

The first step is to shift our mindset from panic to possibility.  The two Chinese characters that make up the word “crisis” translate into “dangerous” and “opportunity.” Dangerous because if we get lost in the fear we will stay in the swirling anxiety that is so prevalent right now. 

Despite the prevalence of anxiety in the air, there is an enormous opportunity right now - and that is to rise above the fear that has been dominating much of society. There is also the opportunity to establish an elevated way of living - not just today, but for the rest of our lives!  As more people embrace powerful love-based emotions such as gratitude, joy, peace and harmony, we shift the overall energy of our planet and pave the way for an era of peace on Earth.

I recently learned that one of the most enlightened times recorded in Earth’s history, the Renaissance, was spawned by the Black Plague!  Indeed, crisis creates a dangerous opportunity: Will we let this take us down, or will we rise above it?

The choice is ours.

Tools for Transformation

In order to rise above, we’ll need tools that can transmute the fears and move us from victims to powerful creators. Here’s our toolbox to get there:

1. Turn off all distractions and turn attention within. Feel into your body:

1. Breathe.  Feel the breath moving.  Breathe deeper. (Do this and take a break often to experience it deeper as you readl) Exhale that pent up energy with an audible sigh… and NOTICE how that feels in the body and do it again.  Aaaaaahhhhh!

2. Let uncomfortable energy release into the Earth as you plant both feet on the ground and press your middle finger into your upper lip 1/3 of the way down from your nose (a major grounding point for the body). Inhale deeply, then let your breath out in a sigh again: hhhaaaaaaa! Feel and envision any negative energy leaving your body and draining into the Earth. 

3. Focus in your heart center.  Breathe in calm… breathe into your heart center as if you had your own central sun there. As you release, feel the radiance and warmth of loving, peaceful energy flowing through your chest.

   Keep breathing rhythmically, easily, and gently, balancing the amount of time given to the inhale and exhale. Feel the relaxation. Draw the breath into your heart center. Intend to draw in calm and radiate peace through every cell on the exhale. Love, peace, calm and safety - right here, right now. Notice: at this moment you ARE okay!

4. What you can feel you can heal; what you resist persists. Get curious now and notice again how you feel: is that anxiety, stress, or fear still there? Or has something else come up? Appreciate all improvements and they will continue to grow! When you go into the body to feel what’s happening, the negative feelings will begin dissipating because you are now allowing them to move as you allow yourself to feel them. Resisting the feeling makes muscles contract around the emotions, ultimately holding onto them and trapping them inside your body.

5. Repressing emotions is like holding a beach ball under water and hoping to settle the waters on the surface as we search desperately for something to save us. This keeps us helpless and in victim mode. By moving our attention into these sensations and breathing into them, we can feel them soften and release! As soon as we notice we can affect the sensations, we move into the position of creator. We are now coming from a powerful position, and our fear will subside.

6. Many of us have been taught to look for solutions outside ourselves to quell our fears. Yet, when we search frantically for a solution, all we do is generate more fear, because a fearful state will magnetize fearful ideas.

2. Soothe your emotional, physical and mental body even more as you put one hand over your heart and the other over your belly with your thumb hooked into your belly button.  Stay focused and breathe calmly and rhythmically. Keep shining infinite love from your heart center and feel it soothing your whole body, especially your solar plexus and belly.

Stop resisting and accept what is here and now. This is easier said than done, I know – it takes practice. This puts you in a position of power, and balances your nervous system so that you are ready to take purposeful, positive action at the optimum time. When your body is in fight or flight mode, you are weakening your immune system, and unable to think clearly. Pull up your strength and be here now! Breathe and get centered in your body.

Take a few minutes to breathe in this position and then change your hands around with the opposite hand on the heart and belly. Breathe.

Note: Don’t give up if difficult emotions stubbornly keep creeping in! Some emotions have deep roots that may require extra help to release.*

3. Stop focusing on what is breaking down and focus instead on the love and possibilities that are breaking through. Think about a car crash: if you focus on it, studies show you will drive right into it! Focus instead on where you want to go.

 We have been riding this earth into destruction and the Coronavirus has thrown a giant wrench into those engines. We are all feeling the reverberations of the sudden stop. Do you REALLY want to keep going the way we were going?  Or do you want to create a better future for yourself and generations to come? 

Everything is created in Consciousness.  Everything was an idea before it manifested into physicality. What New Earth do YOU dream of creating? How would you love your family life to be? When you create a powerful vision of what you want your subconscious will move you toward it.  In my book 9 Ways to Bring Out the Best in You and Your Child  you’ll find a template to get the whole family involved in creating a vision you can start living right now.  

If we are to use this turning point as an opportunity to usher in the Golden Age of Peace and Prosperity we must lovingly and powerfully focus on what we want to create and stop reacting through fear.

Every time you catch fear creeping in, STOP and give these tools a try. *If you find emotional patterns persist and you are unable to shift your focus from fear to desired possibilities, contact me for a free Emotional Empowerment Session.

With my mind spinning out of control, feeling stuck in confusion and fearful of making any decision and carrying it out, I open A Course in Miracles and this text this pops right out at me:   

“Fear is a certain indicator that you have put your trust in yourself.”

What? I thought that was where I was supposed to put my trust. I reread, “Fear is a certain indicator that you have put your trust in yourself.” Well who am I supposed to trust? ... Oh! My God I got it! I was working so hard to take control of the situation and to trust the decision that I was trying to make that I got lost inside the tunnels of my own mind.

How can I truly trust myself – or who I think I am - to deal with all future possibilities?  Who I think I am is limited simply by thinking and defining it.  How, then, am I to trust that I can deal with the unlimited possibilities of what may arise?

Only an Unlimited Being can deal with whatever arises.  I have been focusing on connecting with my Eternal Self for a very long time.  We know there is an eternal unlimited force that moves through everything. Einstein articulated it well,

“Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another.”

Call it God, call it the universe, call it Presence, call it Energy, call it Divine Light… But call It to you, especially when you are fearful and confused. Luckily, I have been practicing this.  I know that it only takes a moment to connect with that unlimited energy within  right now.  Try it for yourself:

1. Turn your attention within. Close your eyes and focus.

2. Breathe deeply…right into your belly. If you want to release emotional build up from anxiety, fear, anger, overwhelm emphasize the outbreath… perhaps even let your breath out with open mouthed sigh. Allow your body to release tension. Imagine it moving like a wave from the top of your head through the tip of your toes.

3. Place three fingers vertically right in the center or your chest at armpit level. Allow them to wiggle into the grooves you find there. This is a powerful acupressure point. Simply hold and breathe, allowing fingers to sink in gently.

4. Now notice the energy running throughout your body. Sense into that eternal stream of energy. Relax into it. Rest in it. Choose to trust It … right here, right now… in this moment.

 As you open your eyes keep some of your attention inside, sensing this eternal energy. Feel and listen within and do what you feel prompted to do.

Imagination Is More Important than Knowledge

Your attempts to give your children the best of everything, may be keeping them from accessing the best within them.

Einstein said "Imagination is more important than knowledge". Are you giving your child the time and opportunities they need to nuture their imagination? Watch this video to put practical ideas to work immediately to help your child develop their imagination.

Does your inner critic's judgment get you down? Keep you stuck? Prevent you from seeing life's beauty and enjoying your own creations? A client recently shared her experience of taking her sister to a wine and paint party.  You might have heard of them... they can be a lot of fun.  However, they can also bring out your inner critic. My client's sister is an artist and she thought this would be a great thing for them to do together.  However, throughout the entire experience she could hear her sister muttering, comparing and criticizing her own work.  Even though she is a talented artist her ongoing criticism throughout the process dampened the experience for both of them.

That inner critic doesn't just mess up our artistic endeavours... it can pretty much mess up our lives.  It can keep us stuck, afraid to do anything because it's just never quite good enough. And when we reach the end of our lives we'll find ourselves still sitting at the shore in our boat... awaiting the perfect adventure.It's time to expose the inner critic for what it is... an over-protective self that is afraid of disapproval and desperately wants recognition from others. No shame or blame in that, by the way... pretty much all of us have been conditioned to seek recognition and approval from others.  And we need help to break this bad habit and the beliefs that go with it.  Trouble is, the habit and beliefs are ingrained subconsciously and not so easy to get at with the conscious mind. In fact, most of the time we are not even aware that they're functioning and keeping us miserable.

So how to get at them?  One proven way is to set up an experience where they are sure to surface...dah-da... Paint Your Heart Out play shops are set up to expose your inner critic - so you can recognize it more easily - and to paint your way through it - so it learns to step aside and YOU can enjoy life!

Paint Your Heart Out painting parties work with time proven techniques designed to help you stop judging yourself and start enjoying the creative process of the moment. There is no right or wrong or perfect picture to paint. This is an emergent process where you learn a great deal about yourself and how to appreciate the painting that is emerging in front of you. It is not a painting workshop where you learn to paint just what is presented by the instructor.

You'll find yourself connecting more deeply within and learning to flow with life... and the more you flow, the more you glow! That flow of life that ripples through you is part of your subconscious and when you get in touch with it you can more easily recognize when it isn't flowing... and you'll learn how to expose those stuck subconscious patterns and dissolve them.

Paint Your Heart Out is a joyful, playful way to learn a whole lot more about YOU... about your mind chatter and how to silence it... about your emotions and how to feel them to heal them... and how to get in touch with that emotional flow that enriches your paintings, and your life.

Here are just a few testimonials from previous playshops...

“Loved learning how to listen to myself and play. I had really forgotten how important laughter is.”

“It’s okay to let go and move on - and get to know your inner self.”

"This has been like a miracle for us – it broke through misconceptions that we had about each other and allowed us to connect on a deeper level - thank you!" PJ Matz, L.C. (mother of the mother-daughter (17 yr old) who attended together

If you want to feel better... get better at feeling! It only makes sense.

Join us for the next Paint Your Heart Out Playshop.